1889 Bodeo

This is one of RTI's imports, the lowest grade they sold. All grades looked the same to me so I didn't see the point in paying extra. Ordered it about two months ago but they took forever to ship and this was the first weekend since Mike got it that I could meet up with him to get it.

Of course they wire wheeled it. I wish they would stop doing that. Not much rust on it, a small amount on the interior and some under the paint they missed with the wheel but none where the paint came off.

Everything works. The trigger is the most interesting thing, obviously, no guard and it folds up when not in use. It locks into place and is released as soon as you start pulling the hammer back. It is double action. Can be fired by pulling the hammer back or pulling the trigger. Trigger pull is not bad, not near as bad as a Nagant revolver.

The bore looks great. One of the cylinders has something in it, can't tell if it's fossilized goo or rust, the other five look good. I think the sixth cylinder is fully functional, just needs cleaned a bit more.

I have since torn it apart, only two full serial numbers on it, cylinder and frame. All parts including the cylinder and frame are stamped on the inside with a 63 so it's surprisingly all matching. None of the grips in the photos had much checkering left so I think I got lucky there.

I got the remaining paint off and much of the wire wheel marks were minimized in cleaning but they are still there, aggravating.

They are currently sold out of these but they could get more in. They didn't have many to begin with, about 15 in this condition, 5 in what they called the next higher grade and 2 antiques which they still have for a ridiculous price and looking worse than this.

After photos after I finish cleaning and putting it back together.

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They did work that one over, didn't they. Hope it cleans up for you. I do like the Abadie system, if you must deal with a gate loader.

It cleaned up better but never going to be a beauty queen. I would have thought they would have stopped doing this by now. Maybe the Ethiopians are doing it before they sold them. At least there's minimal rust on these, probably too dry a climate to get a lot of rust.

Probably spent about three hours cleaning it up.

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Good progress. Nice to see the innards are in pretty good shape. How's the lock up?

Everything seems good. Just need to find some ammo. I was told Fiochi is making it again and I did see a photo of a new modern box of it but I can't find any for sale anywhere. I'm just happy with the grips. I've seen several other examples of these imports and the checkering is gone or almost gone in nearly all of them.

That would be nice if they did resume production. The last run was many years ago, and the word was at the time that no more would be made. I've been rolling my own using cut down .44 Special brass, sized cast lead bullets, and Trail Boss. These work fine in my revolver.

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Originally Posted by Low & Slow

I've been rolling my own using cut down .44 Special brass, sized cast lead bullets, and Trail Boss. These work fine in my revolver.

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Am I correct that these are about .401 diameter bullets? Or are you shooting them fat?

I believe spec was .410", but probably measured at the lands. My grooves slugged out at something like .424"/.425". I size down to .426.

My Bodeo came from a US Army veteran who brought it back from Italy in WW2. Only within
the last few years, did I find out it was a very early officers model and never returned to have a serial number stamped on the revolver. Never thought about shooting it (bore is exc) just a nice very early example of the Bodeo

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Originally Posted by RCS

a very early officers model

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I like it better with the solid trigger and guard.

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

I like it better with the solid trigger and guard.

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If I had to carry it, I'd fully agree with you, but from a curiosity standpoint, the folding trigger is more interesting.

The folding trigger types are cool and iconic. Like to find one sometime. Mine is an early officer's model. Not nearly as nice as RCS's, but interestingly has the De Lauso hammer block.

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

If I had to carry it, I'd fully agree with you, but from a curiosity standpoint, the folding trigger is more interesting.

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I've a 1874 model. I didn't like the folding trigger to gaze upon, but it makes it fit a slim holster better.

I got a holster for it. Seller claimed it was WWI but the Grey indicates WWII to me.

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